Sergeant Charles Henry Brown
Sergeant Charles Henry Brown served during the Civil War and patrolled the banks of the Potomac at Glymont (Potomac Heights).
Sergeant Brown served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) between 1862 and 1866. During the Civil War, he escaped slavery to join the Union Army, arriving at Mason’s Island, an African American recruitment station in the middle of the Potomac River just south of Washington D.C. Brown and several friends enlisted together and later saw service in North Carolina and Petersburg, Virginia. In 1865 he was wounded in Wilmington but refused treatment, continuing to serve until the Confederate forces surrendered the city. He returned to Charles County a hero in his community, and built a log cabin and later a beautiful two-story Victorian dwelling that still stands today.
Brown was one of a handful of men who established the Mount Hope Baptist Church, and he served for many years on the church’s trustee board. He is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery along with many other war veterans from the Mount Hope/Nanjemoy community.
